Crowe bans gambling from his club

Russell Crowe is leading a campaign to discourage Australians from gambling - by banning poker machines from his sports club.

The actor has already axed the cheerleading squad from his South Sydney Rabbitohs rugby league club in a bid to make it more female friendly - and now he is attempting social reform by scrapping the clubs $6m (€4m) gambling income.

His co-owner Peter Homes a Court says: "Russell threw down the gauntlet and said 'Can we do this?'. It's been proven beyond reasonable doubt that poker machines cause damage in the community and Russell said we've got to find a new business model."

Crowe is hoping to find new sponsors for the club, to replace the money the 160 machines brought in.